I Love You Doesn't Count After Goodbye
by begfortherestofmy-life
Summary: After all the recent drama, everything seems to be settling down. Zig & Maya finally decided to get together and they're all moving on. But one night, Zig finds himself outside Tori's house and he finally finds the closure he didn't realise he was searching for. It was all he needed to finally be happy.


**A/N: **

I thought this could be something sweet for all you guys, and I had someone else read this and they thought it was cute...so I'm hoping you all do too. Just some sweet, innocent (kind of?) closure between Zigmund & Victoria.

** ~* Hope you all enjoy! *~**

Ever since he had started dating Maya, there was a certain emptiness that Zig now carried around. Each kiss he shared with Maya, every time they touched, he felt..lost. Never once had he felt this way before with her and he found the feeling strange. He was sitting on the couch at the Matlin residence, waiting for Maya to come back with the drinks and he pulled out his phone. He realised he still hadn't changed his background photo from he & Tori to the one of him & Maya and suddenly...at the sight of that picture, he didn't feel so empty any more.

"Zig..Zig are you okay?" his head snapped up to the blonde, the phone shoved back into his pocket. "Yeah..yeah I'm fine" he said, forcing a smile. Maya was still a little suspicious, but she simply shrugged and handed him the glass of grape juice and he set it on the coffee table. Smiling, he sat back again and placed his arm around Maya, as he usually did when they were next to each other. "I heard Cam's got himself another injury.." he mentioned, remembering that he saw the Ice Hound with another bandage around his wrist & hand. HE felt Maya shrug and huff. "I'm not sure I really care for Cam anymore..." she said gently. Zig just kept quiet, unsure of what to say.

Why wouldn't she care for him anymore? To be honest, the statement bugged Zig. They did have a bad breakup, but then again Cam wasn't the one in the wrong. "Did you hear that Tori won another pageant?" Maya said. Hell yeah he heard that Tori won another pageant, he was there to see her. She looked beautiful…incredibly stunning, no wonder she won. "Zig?" he felt the blonde nudge him. He must've zoned out again. "Oh...uh...yeah, yeah Tristan told me." He said, nodding. Maya grunted a little; maybe the mention of a pageant annoyed her. It was quiet for a little while and soon Zig was starting to get antsy, wanting to get out of the house. He checked the clock; it was a reasonable time too.

"Hey...Maya, It's getting late...I should be getting home." He told her, moving his arm off her and preparing to move. "Oh...let me get my dad, he can drive you home." Zig shook his head, "No, that's fine. I feel like walking anyway." He said, standing up. "At least let me walk you home..." she said, folding her arms across her chest. "Maya..Then who's going to walk you back home?" he said with a chuckle. She rolled her eyes and nudged him. "Fine. But please just text me when you get home. I don't want anything happening to you." She said, moving in and hugging him. He sighed and hugged her back, "Okay… mom" he said sarcastically, to which she rolled her eyes again. "Zig…" she said gently. He just nodded and leant down, placing a soft kiss on her cheek. "I will, I promise." He said before zipping his hoodie up and heading for the door. "I love you!" she called out as he opened the door and stepped outside. "You too." He said, swallowing back nothing at all.

He ran his fingers through his hair before letting out a small, frustrated grunt. For some reason, he never really understood, but he had trouble telling someone he loved them. Whether it was his mother, father or a girlfriend, he had never been able to bring himself to say it.

Zig stuck his hands into his pockets and left the Matlin residence, heading up the street to head back to the convenience store also known as his home. He still felt empty, a kind of empty that would only be filled with something…someone else.

Sure, he had trouble saying 'I love you' to people…but for some reason, he felt like it was the only words that would come out of his mouth now. And why was that? His fingers found his phone in his pocket and he pulled it out, the screen still unlocked and the photo of himself & Tori smiling at each other like idiots was staring back at him. And the feeling that came when he saw the photo back at Maya's house suddenly came back, hitting him like a tonne of bricks. "…Shit" he muttered, sighing deeply.

He heard a door open just ahead and the sound of footsteps...bare feet against the wood of the front porch. He looked up from his phone to see the wavy haired girl standing outside. "Zig? Is that you?" she must've been squinting because of the dim light. How did he end up outside Tori's house? "Tor…" he said gently, slipping the phone back into his pocket. The girl tensed up as she reached behind her and shut the door. "What are you doing here?" she asked as he took a step toward the house. "No..." she held her hand out. "Stay there." He looked down at the concrete then back to her. "Tori...I...I…" he stammered, trying to find the words. "Seriously, if you're going to waste my time…" she was about to turn back and go inside. "Wait." He called out, taking another step forward.

"Tori… look… I'm sorry…I'm really, really sorry." He said, she stayed quiet. "About everything… th..The kiss with Maya, the fact I was always hurting you… I'm sorry." The niner looked to the ground again. He heard her stepping across her porch and then she let out a sigh. "Thank you…" she said softly. Zig looked up again, she was sitting on the swing that they always used to sit on together. He slowly made his way up the path onto the front porch and stood in front of her as she gently swung back and forth. "You know, Zig… I'm happy for you. I'm really happy that you're happy" she said quietly, looking at her hands as they just sat on her lap. "I'm not happy…" he murmured, just audible. She sighed again. "You are happy. I can tell." She said, still not looking at him. He just shook his head. "I'm not happy." He said a little louder.

"Zig, you don't notice it…but I do. You know, before we broke up…you were always distant, every time we kissed, it was like you were pretending I was someone else… and I noticed that. And that's when I knew you weren't happy with me anymore." She said, finally looking up at him. Normally, when she thought about it, she'd be crying, but her expression remained emotionless, like she had said those words a million times before. "And now you're with Maya… you always light up.. Your laugh is different, each time I see you two, it's like some sweet couple from one of those 90s teen movies." She said with a small laugh.

He shook his head again, moving to sit next to her on the swing. She shuffled over a little, putting as much space between them as she could. "You're happy with her Zig, you're happier with her than me." She told him, staring across to the other end of the porch. "Tori…listen to me." He said. "I don't feel the way I did with you, when I'm with Maya. I don't feel that spark. It's like… I'm empty." She scoffed at the statement. "It's true." He said with a rather dramatic sigh.

"Tor, I love you." The words fell from his mouth before he even could consider stopping himself. She quickly glanced to him, now shocked. Did he just say he loved her? He was shocked himself, how did that happen? But then he relaxed a small smile on his face. "I do…I do love you." He said, moving so he was facing her properly. She moved a little too, just a little bit closer to him. The words seemed to flow so naturally. "You do?" she whispered, not showing any thing more than shock. He simply nodded. She smiled a little, bringing her hand up and placing it on his cheek. She closed the space between them and then placed a small, sweet kiss on his lips. As she moved away, Zig pulled her back in, kissing her softly. There it was, the spark. The one he didn't feel with Maya any more. Tori didn't push away, she just let him kiss her, then kissed him back, just a little bit. They both slowly pulled away from each other, lingering on each other's lips. Zig placed one more small peck on her lips before they moved away from each other properly.

"Zig…" Tori whispered, "I love you too…but it doesn't count an ymore." She continued. He was a little confused by the statement before she gently ran her thumb across his lower lip. "I love you doesn't count after goodbye." She said softly. He then understood what she meant. "I'll always love you, damn, you were the first person I ever loved… and it's okay to still love you because of that, but this is the kind of love to reminisce on, not act upon." She said. He nodded a little. "Okay." He whispered gently. "I have to go inside." Zig nodded again. She kissed him gently once more before moving away from the boy. He got up off the swing, walking beside her for the few steps it'd take before she was at her door again. "Thank you…" she said quietly, opening the door and stepping inside. He watched as the door shut and took a step back. He felt good…he felt happy, like they had closure that he didn't know he was searching for. Zig turned and began walking away when the door opened again and his name was called out. "Zig…wait." He spun around and Tori's hands were at the back of her neck. She unclipped a necklace and pulled it away from her neck, stepping toward him. She reached out and grabbed his hand with her free hand and gently dropped the necklace in it. It was a pretty necklace, one with a diamond. "My grandmother gave it to me when I was little…and she told me to give it to the next person I knew I loved and that I'd still love for the many years to come…I want you to have it." She explained, he smiled, running his thumb over the pendant. "Goodnight." She said, smiling before she headed back inside.

Zig chuckled a little before putting the necklace on himself, he wasn't bothered with how 'girly' it was, it meant something to him, and as cheesy as it seemed, with him wearing the necklace, it would seem like Tori was closer to his heart without physically being there. Zig made his way home, the biggest grin on his face since a long…long time.

He found the closure he didn't know he was searching for and now when he thought of Maya… he didn't feel so empty. Once Zig got to his home, he hugged his mother & father and then headed to his bedroom, pulling his phone out. He pulled up the message box and quickly typed. "Hey Matlin…I got home okay :P and I love you." He said, no shortcuts, just straightforward. He then changed the photo from the one it was, to a picture of him and Maya but he wouldn't ever delete that first photo, there was no way anyone would ever be able to get him to do that. And for the first time in a long time, Zig Novak truly felt happy.

~Fin~

Epilogue:

Tori was just wandering down the hall, clutching onto her school books, making her way to her locker. She laughed every once in a while as Tristan ranted about the latest episode of West Drive and what they needed to do for their vlog and then noticed up ahead, Zig & Maya giggling like idiots as they walked off to wherever they needed to go. She smiled to herself that really was the happiest she had seen the boy in a long time. And it made her happy too. She finally came to her locker as Tristan continued to ramble on a put her combination in, wiggling the lock off and opening the locker. She slipped her books in and searched for the ones she'd need and then felt Tristan bump into her. "Tris..really?" she asked, shooting a small glare to the boy. "There's a skateboard in your locker, Tor, thought you'd like to know…" he said, raising his hands in defence. She furrowed her brows, completely confused but then Tristan pointed down at the object. She picked the board up and ran her fingers over it. She looked at it all over, then realised who it belonged to. Zig. It was the corn dog sticker on the bottom the helped her realise it. She giggled a little to herself before feeling a piece of paper underneath her hand. Tori gripped it then peeled it off the board, putting it back into her locker as she held the note out in front of her.

_Tor,_

_I don't really have a super sweet story behind this… but it's something of me. Something I love, given to someone I love, and someone I'll love for many years to come._

_Love always,_

_Zig_

"Tori, I swear to god if you make me late for theatre…" Tori held the note to her chest, looking just past her door as she saw Zig walk past laughing with another guy friend. "Tori!" Tristan yelped a little, she laughed, placing the note in her locker and grabbing the books she'd need for the next few classes and closed her locker. "Jeez, Tris…" she said, nudging him a little. "You're so spaced out…" he joked, linking his arm with hers as they made their way to the theatre for their class. It was really a happy ending of sorts, a happy ending for everyone. And damn it felt good.


End file.
